


Honor Guard

by xanemarths



Series: 200 Years of (Holy) War [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: (and you can't tell me no), Gen, Levin is Neurodivergent, Pre-Canon, Rahna isn't the best mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-04-07
Packaged: 2019-04-19 13:31:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14238351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanemarths/pseuds/xanemarths
Summary: As the oldest group of pegasus knight trainees near their graduation, Levin comes to his mother with one simple request.also jokingly called "Levin Engages in Nepotism: The Fanfic"





	Honor Guard

**Author's Note:**

> This actually came about because I was thinking about pegasus knight redesigns for fe4. I promise my thought process was entirely logical (I was thinking about uniform colors and that led to royal guard colors which led to "Levin wants Fury on the royal guard").
> 
> I think pre-canon Levin acts much differently than in-game Levin (he certainly didn't pick up his accent in Silesia!), so if you're wondering why he seems different from normal in this fic, that's probably why.
> 
> Please note: In this fic, Rahna really doesn't handle Levin being neurodivergent very well, and it's from her perspective. If reading about Autism Moms Who Try To Force Eye Contact And Prevent Their Kids From Stimming doesn't sit well with you, then this might be a bit of a hard read. I have my own reasons why I think of her as a bad mother (for all fe4 fandom jokes about her roasting Levin, and as much as she had a right to be mad, saying you want your kid to return home only to pretend you don't have a kid at all isn't... great), and if you read her differently - good for you! This is just my take on her.

He’s been darting around just within her range of vision for the past five minutes, but Rahna decides it’s best to wait it out and make him come to her, rather than acknowledge his presence. Gods knew the Crown Prince of Silesia needed to work on his social skills, and she would _not_ be the one to encourage such blatant avoidance! It works, eventually, because he comes forward, half-slouched, hands behind his back and refusing to meet her eye. He opens his mouth a few times, but no sound comes out, and Rahna finds her patience with him slowly ebbing away. Finally, he coughs, and makes some of the first noises she’s heard from him in a while.

“Uh, erm.”

“Speak up, Levin, and if you’re talking to me then _look_ at me while you do,” she says, sternly; gods help her, she didn’t have the time for this!

Levin squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, entire body seeming to tense, before tearing his gaze away from whatever he’d been staring at before to meet her eyes. He inhales, as though preparing himself and finally-

“Fury’ll be graduating soon,” he says, simply, before breaking eye contact _again_ ; he looks off to the side, as if whatever’s over there is more interesting than the person he’s speaking to.

“And?” Rahna quirks an eyebrow, and feigns obliviousness to whatever this is leading up to. After all, even if she knew why he brought it up - and it is so very easy for her to guess - she wants to hear him say it himself. Not everyone would understand what he meant after just one sentence, after all!

Levin reluctantly brings his gaze back to meet Rahna’s, and continues, hands shifting behind his back. “I want her on the royal guard.”

It’s not exactly a surprise, but Rahna can’t help but be taken aback. Her son was rarely _this_ straightforward, even after prompting; he was _certainly_ not this straightforward about official, royal matters!

“...Sit down,” she tells him, gesturing towards the rest of the table; he picks a seat not too far away and sits down, neatly folding his hands on the table. Even at this distance, she can see how the cuffs of his sleeves are beginning to wear _again;_ he really needed to stop picking at them! “Levin,” she says, stern yet gentle, “picking someone for the royal guard, one of the _highest honors_ in Silesia, based on mere favoritism, would be _wrong_. There are _plenty_ of already highly competent pegasus knights who’d deserve a promotion!”

Levin’s hands start to shake, as though it’s an effort to keep them still. “Mother. When did you promote _Mahnya_ to royal guard?”

Touche. Rahna’s almost surprised he’d remember that and understand it enough to bring it up in an argument! “Immediately after she graduated. She was the top of her class, though.”

“Yeah. And Fury’s gonna be graduating at the top of hers.” His hands are shifting now, fidgeting, and it’s all Rahna can do to not point this out, to not point out that words like ‘gonna’ were far too casual for an official setting. He exhales, and drops his gaze until Rahna clears her throat. “Right. Uh.” And then his fingers break free to fiddle with his cuffs, and he stutters, and she stares him down until he stops with _that_ , because it isn’t proper for a prince! “Okay. Fury will be graduating top of her class. Her sister is already part of the royal guard, the Angelic Knights, and she got there on virtue of skill - the same skill Fury is _also_ showing. If letting Mahnya into the royal guard just after graduating top of her class is acceptable, then I don’t see why it wouldn’t be acceptable to do the same for Fury. Besides. There might be other, more qualified pegasus knights out there - but Fury is one I _actually_ get on with. They could be the most skilled pegasus knight in all Jugdral, but if I can’t talk to them - they’re not going to be the best at guarding _me_ , and all.”

It’s one of the longest things he’s said to her since he first demonstrated the ability to speak, and Rahna is almost quite impressed! While she doesn’t quite agree with his final point (it would do him some _good_ to learn how to speak with someone that wasn’t just Fury!), it is a pretty solid argument. Besides…

“Get on with Fury?” she asks, an almost devilish smile creeping up on her face, her eyes seeming to flicker with a mantra of _I want grandkids I want grandkids I want grandkids_. This time, when Levin fidgets and flusters and looks uncomfortable, she says nothing about it.

Ah, young love.

After a moment, her expression sombers, and she continues as normal. “Well. If your father were around, I should say you’d have to ask him about it,” she says, a brief shadow passing over her face as she thinks of the king (he had so much love in his heart; too bad he wasted it all on helping other people and not on taking care of his family!), “but, as it stands, he is not. He should be back before the ceremony, however, and I suppose I could discuss it with him - but you are absolutely right about Fury’s abilities. Why, even if you hadn’t said anything, she still would have been assigned to the royal guard!”

Levin falls silent. His hands go still, his eyes lose focus, and, after a moment, he stands up from his seat and leaves the room. Rahna shakes her head, and returns to her tea.

At least they’d managed some sort of communication.


End file.
